|
U.S. stock indexes rose on Friday as better-than-expected third-quarter earnings reports set the S&P 500 on track for a winning week.
|
|
 Stocks opened higher Friday, looking to build on the previous session's sharp gains, after a stronger-than-expected rise in September retail sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 208 points, or 0.6%, to 35,120, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.5% to 4,459 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3% to 14,869. The Dow was led higher by shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , up more than 2% after topping Wall Street forecasts.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
|
|
 U.S. stock benchmarks climb higher Friday afternoon, with the Dow back above the 35,000 level, as quarterly results from Goldman Sachs and better-than-expected U.S. September retail sales helped fuel early buying on Wall Street.
|
|
Rising prices flatter U.S. retail sales; demand for goods remains strong ReutersRetail sales unexpectedly rise in September as consumers keep spending CNBCRetail Sales Rise, Showing Strong Consumer Demand, Higher Inflation The Wall Street JournalBig university endowments make billions in returns in a bumper year. The New York TimesDaily Markets: More Earnings and Sept
|
|
 Dow industrials jump 200 points at opening bell after upbeat retail-sales data
|
|
Shares of Merck & Co. Inc. were down 0.1% in premarket trading on Friday, the day after the Food and Drug Administration said it plans to convene an advisory committee on Nov. 30 to discuss the company's experimental COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir. Merck is developing the antiviral with the privately held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics; it recently applied for emergency authorization. The FDA requested advisory committee meetings for each of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines but it did not convene one ahead of the authorizations of the monoclonal antibodies or Gilead Sciences Inc.'s remdesivir, an antiviral used to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients that is now fully approved. "We believe that, in this instance, a public discussion of these data with the agency's advisory committee will help ensure clear understanding of the scientific data and information that the FDA is evaluating to make a decision about whether to authorize this treatment for emergency use," Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. Merck's stock is up 0.4% for the year, while the S&P 500 has gained 18.1%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
|
|
The Labor Department reported initial claims for state jobless benefits fell to 293,000 last week, down 36,000 from the previous week and the lowest level since the pandemic began.
|
|
